This eerie military hospital once treated Nazi leader Adolf Hitler for a thigh injury he acquired during a WWI battle in late 1916.
Rusty beds, vine-covered buildings and empty corridors with walls covered in graffiti and slowly peeling paint are what remains of a gigantic hospital which once treated Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, after it was abandoned in the fall of East Germany.
Beelitz-Heilstätten, a 60-building treatment complex southwest of the German capital, was built in the late 19th century to help rehabilitate the growing number of tuberculosis patients in the expanding city of Berlin.
During the Great War, Beelitz-Heilstätten - or Beelitz Sanatorium - was turned into a military hospital and was where a young Adolf Hitler was treated for a thigh injury acquired during the Battle of the Somme.
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| Walls of woes: A corridor at the Beelitz Sanatorium is littered with graffiti on its peeling paint after decades of being left to ruin in the forest southwest of Berlin |
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| Green serenity: Over the years, the exterior walls of Beelitz- Heilstätten have been covered in vines and its courtyards are now resembling the surrounding forest |
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| The doctor will see you now: A former surgery in one of the hospital buildings has been decorated by urban explorers who have visited over the years |
Beelitz-Heilstätten was built between
1898 and 1930 after an initiative by the German National Insurance
Institute who found that the closeness to Berlin in combination with the
fresh air of the countryside made the location ideal for a sanatorium.
Parts of the complex was turned into a
military hospital by the German Imperial Army when World War I broke
out and was where Adolf Hitler was sent to recover from his war wounds
in late 1916.
The 60-building complex did not only
have treatment facilities but functioned as a little village and had a
butcher's, a post office, a restaurant, a bakery and even its own power
station which was so powerful snow never settled on
Beelitz-Heilstätten’s grounds.
Although the economic crisis following
the war saw many wards close, Beelitz-Heilstätten was considered a
global frontrunner in tuberculosis treatment.
During the Second World War several
buildings were bombed by the Allied Forces and in 1945 it was occupied
by Soviet forces and remained a Soviet military hospital even after
Germany united in 1990.
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| Empty halls: Although the rooms at the sanatorium are nothing but dilapidated ruins, this is the hospital where Adolf Hitler recovered from his war wounds in World War I |
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| Leaders' lair: Hitler was not the only dictator to recuperate at Beelitz, it was also where GDR leader Erich Honecker received treatment for liver cancer in 1990 |
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| Memories: A dilapidated stairwell and a sign reading 'Obstetrics', 'Surgery' and 'Internal' - possibly indicating the number of patients at the time of abandonment |
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| Ruined retreat: A bathtub stands alone in one of the rooms at Beelitz-Heilstätten which was built as a tuberculosis sanatorium in the late 1800s |
Hitler was not the only dictator to
recuperate at Beelitz-Heilstätten. In 1990 GDR leader Erich Honecker
received treatment for liver cancer and after her was deposed following
the fall of East Germany, he used Beelitz-Heilstätten as his starting
point in his flight to Russia to escape prosecution.
The Soviet Army withdrew in 1995, after which several attempts were made to privatize Beelitz- Heilstätten, without success.
Sections of the hospital remained open
after the military left and were used as a neurological rehabilitation
center to help sufferers of Parkinson's disease.
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Lights out: The bulbs are long gone from this light in one of the operating theatres and the beds remain as they were left, rusting away in the surgery
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| Windows to the past: The sun outside is a stark contrast to the peeling walls and ghost-like air of the sanatorium which was in use for nearly 100 years |
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| Hidden: When the doctors and patients moved out, the surrounding Beelitz forest moved in to the sanatorium and reclaimed the grounds |
Finally, in 2000, the last operations in Beelitz- Heilstätten were closed and the complex was completely abandoned.
Urban explorers describe the complex
as 'easy to enter' and many are baffled by the ease of access and the
fact that none are secured and only a few are boarded up.
Its ‘ghost town’ air has appealed to
more than just those looking to explore the grounds and
Beelitz-Heilstätten has been used as a set for Oscar winner The Pianist
and 2008 film Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise.
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| City of the damned: The 60-building complex did not only have treatment facilities but functioned as a little village and had a butcher's, a post office, a restaurant, stables and a bakery |
